26 Planets
by rozisa
Summary: With Tosh's dead, Owen decides to go to Flat Holm to wait for Diane's return from the rift. Spoilers for Doctor Who episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. 26 Planets because you can't see Earth from Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: According to_ tv tropes_ **Algorithm of Deadness**, Owen will be back while poor Tosh and Ianto won't be. Also Death failed to take Owen at the end of _Dead Man Walking_, so you really think he would be taken by something as mundane as a power plant meltdown? Here goes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. BBC does.

xxxx

Owen had planned to return to the Hub after containing the melt-down until he lurked outside long enough to know Tosh was dead. With Tosh dead, he really wasn't in the mood to officially quit. As a walking dead man, he couldn't metabolize Retcon or any medication, so his memories were his to keep either way.

As much as he would have loved to tell Jack to fuck off, Owen watching from a distance, decided to let Jack, Ianto and Gwen have their grief. He couldn't go back to his flat since Jack would quickly cart off all his belongings. With nothing else to do, Owen decided to sneak aboard a supply boat to go to Flat Holm.

After everything thing he done for Torchwood, sneaking aboard a small cargo boat was cake. Getting off meant waiting for the crew to be busy with unloading the supplies, so they wouldn't hear an extra pair of footsteps, but it was easy, too. Then Owen put aside all the cloak and dagger shit and knocked on the front door.

The nurse on duty said, "Dr. Harper, I heard you were dead."

Owen held up his gloved hand. "Old news." Then Owen held his bad hand with his good one. "With Tosh dead, I have no reason to return to Torchwood. I know it's very unlikely that Miss Holmes will return through the rift, but that being said, you could, probably, use a doctor."

"Captain Harkness visits regularly," said the nurse.

Owen smiled, realizing he was looking forward to telling Jack to fuck off. "I'll deal with that eventuality." He just didn't want to tell Jack to where to go today because Owen was still too numb from hearing about Tosh's death. He knew the stages of grief from when Katie died. He was more in shock then denial right now - he was too stunned by Tosh's death to be saddened by it at the moment - but that would change. They were called stages of grief for a reason.

"I can't pay you without alerting Torchwood of your presence," said the nurse.

"I don't eat; my flat is being retconned," Owen stated. "I may eventually need new clothes. Other than that, I'm good." Then again, Ianto should be able to get his clothes without alerting Jack of his presence. That also could be saved for another day.

"Everyone eats," said the nurse.

"I'm dead," Owen simply stated. "I thought you knew that."

"You look alive to me."

Owen offered the woman his good hand. "Take my pulse."

The nurse felt his wrist, touching different areas, moving a finger back and forth over where the blue of his veins could be seen.

"Nothing," said Owen.

She let go of his hand. "Oh my God."

"According to my doctor, I won't age or decay. And as long as I exercise regularly, I won't experience rigor mortis." Owen held up his damaged hand. "I also don't heal."

"I don't know how to say this." The nurse sat down and gestured for Owen to take a seat. "It isn't that we couldn't use the free help, but our residents are a bit - how do I say this - skittish. And having a doctor that is room temperature examine them isn't going to help their dispositions."

Owen didn't stand up. "You're turning down having a doctor on staff 24/7 because I'm not 37 degree Celsius?"

"You can stay," said the woman. "But if your touch freaks out the residents you will have assist in other ways."

"I want to be here if Diane Holmes should return, however unlikely, that may be. I'm only offering my services to relieve the boredom of waiting. So don't do me any favours."

"We can use the help. You wouldn't believe the turnover rate."

"I would." Owen had heard about Jonah's 20-hour screams.

The nurse got up to shake his hand. "Welcome aboard."

"You aren't freaked out by my lack of pulse."

"After dealing with our residents, I don't startle easy."

xxxx

Since Owen only had the clothes on his back and a pair of scrubs a nurse gave him, he did the residents' laundry while washing his own clothes. With 21 residents and growing, many who wet the bed every night, there was always laundry to do. It was a little less menial than making coffee he couldn't drink. Yes, he couldn't forgive Jack for that insult.

Watching the industrial dryer spin was only a little less boring than some of the shows on the cable television. He was in his scrubs, watching the clothes and sheets in the dryer go round and round. A women on night shift, who was newer than he was (see high turnover rate), said, "Dr. Harper, you need to go topside."

"It's Owen," he said. "I'm an orderly, a food service worker, a maintenance man or anything else anyone needs at this second. Right now, I'm the laundress."

"Come topside." The woman had grabbed his bad hand and started pulling him toward the exit.

The small green island had over seventy people in all manners of dress, standing, sitting or lying about. One woman with wavy brown hair and a leather flight jacket stood out. It couldn't be. Owen didn't know what day it was - from the dew and the position of the sun, it was early morning.

Someone in charge would be notifying Torchwood. Owen made a quick count. 73 people dropped by the rift. Every other time it was one or, when more than one, an object like Diane's plane, _Sky Gypsy_, carrying more than one. Owen ran across the grass and hugged Diane.

"It's you, it's really you," he said, wishing his eyes still could form tears - tears of joy. He did use eye-drops to keep his eyes moist, but they could only do so much.

Diane wrapped her arms around him. "Owen?"

"My heart left with you when I watched the _Sky Gypsy_ leave," said Owen. "I still have your red dress." It was in storage with all his other retconned belongings. He could never say the right things with Tosh, why would today be any different?

"I was in the_ Sky Gypsy_ and now I'm here." Diane was still in Owen's arms. "How?"

"72 other people are asking the same question." Owen saw most of the people being led inside. The green knoll was getting more deserted by the second.

"You're cold," said Diane matter-of-factly.

Owen's body temperature was falling from the feverish temperature from being in a small room with an industrial dryer to temperature of the cold morning air. He would have to tell Diane that he could no longer have sex and knowing her sexual appetite soon. "We'll both be cold if we don't get inside."

"Inside," repeated Diane.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I don't own Torchwood and Doctor Who. BBC does.

xxxx

Owen led Diane inside the metal doors to the underground semi-independent living facility. Most nursing homes had less sterile surrounding than blank walls and doors with names on chalk boards. "I was doing laundry when I was called outside. We can talk while you help me fold sheets."

Diane looked at the hand that wasn't holding her hand in its glove. "What happened to your hand?"

Owen looked at his black glove. "I happened to my hand." He was the one who played with the scalpel and then he broke his own finger to show Tosh that he felt no pain - nothing. His damaged hand was totally his fault.

They returned to the laundry room to see the laundry still spinning.

"Good, my favourite programme is still on," Owen joked. "I can fold sheets with both hands, so it isn't as bad as it looks. Having no pain also helps. Diane, how long were you gone?"

"I entered the rift a few minutes ago." Diane sat down one of the few folding chairs in the small room. "It's been years for you. Hasn't it? Not as many years as before but more than a few minutes."

Owen touched one of Diane's beautiful rosy cheeks with his good hand. "A bit over a year. Maybe, eighteen months. Now that I no longer sleep or eat, I don't keep track of time that well. Living in an underground bunker doesn't help matters. The staff knows if it's day or night, but most of the residents don't."

Diane took his hand in both of hers. "Owen, are you a resident or staff?"

Owen thought a second. "I don't get paid and I haven't been above in weeks, months? Before today, that is. A resident."

Suddenly, the building shook, which was odd since Wales wasn't known for earthquakes. Owen sat on the floor and leaned against Diane since if he ripped his skin, torn any muscles or broke any bones, it wouldn't heal. He protected his face with her lap until the ground stopped shaking.

After the shaking stopped, Owen started folding the sheets, without a word.

Diane stood up to help him. "This is going to sound crazy, but you were holding onto to me a long time with your head in my lap, you don't have body heat. What happened to you?"

"I died. You don't want to see me naked. I have a bullet hole in my chest that will never heal. We should go to the common room and listen to the news about the earthquake."

She helped him fold the sheet. "There will either be aftershocks or there won't. Owen, you died."

"Jack brought me back. Jack gets to live forever and I get to be dead forever. It isn't fucking fair. Death wouldn't take me and being conscious as a radioactive pile of ash terrified me. Tosh talked me down from screaming like a maniac while she was dying." Owen wiped his face from force of habit because he didn't have any tears to dry. "At the last second, I was able to reroute the radioactive water to another tank, so I didn't get fried by superheated radioactive stream. I didn't know she was dead till later."

"You're dead?"

"Zombie films were a bit after your time," Owen explained. "My heart doesn't beat. I don't breathe. And I can't have sex."

Maybe, she didn't hear that last part. "You can't have sex?" Diane repeated. Bloody hell, she heard it.

Owen continued to fold the sheet then put it in the closet with the other clean sheets. Owen took another sheet from the dryer and started folding it. He was an expert at steadying things with his bad hand while the other hand did the lion's share of the work.

Diane interrupted Owen's silence. "You don't work for Torchwood any more. They house you here with the other rejects."

"Jack doesn't know I'm here. I hide wherever Ianto visits, but we turn our heads away from the each one enough that it's nearly a game." Owen would go into a room or turn a corner when he saw Ianto. Ianto, in turn, avoided Owen's eyes. "I came here because I hoped you would end up here. Not as a resident. I didn't want you to be damaged by the rift like they are, but I figured you would pass through as you were readjusting to life outside."

Diane touched his face. "You waited for me. That's very sweet."

"Diane, I love you. I want to be more than your fuck buddy. Not that the sex wasn't great. It was." Owen continued to fold the sheet. "I'm sticking my foot in my mouth. Please, stop me."

Diane helped him finish and put the folded sheet with the other clean ones. "You're no longer a warm body to hold in the night."

"Tosh and I danced at Gwen and Rhys's wedding. Tosh said it would be awkward marrying me with the whole 'death do you part' shit." Owen took another sheet from the dryer. Doing his mostly one-handed folding meant he didn't need to look at Diane. "I know I'm damaged."

Diane didn't say anything while she helped him fold another sheet.

Finally, Owen spoke. "Let's go to the common room and find out about the earthquake. With the rift dropping 73 people onto Flat Holm, I'm sure Jack is here. I can't avoid him any longer."

xxxx

Jack wasn't in the common room. The people on the telly were talking about the sky being full of planets. If the sky was really full of planets then Jack was too busy to worry about 73 new rift refugees. 73 people being dropped in one location a short time before the Earth was moved was hardly a coincidence, meaning the world was coming to an end. At least, he would return to the endless timeless void of death, holding Diane's hand.

"What's going on?" said Diane.

"Jack will talk to that doctor friend of his and have him set things right," said Owen. Whoever brought them here wanted them alive because why else keep the Earth's atmosphere intact. All he could do now like all the other residents of Flat Holm was wait. "You can look at the planets outside, but I have laundry to finish."

Diane took his hand in hers. "The laundry can wait."

Owen made eye-contact with Diane. "Are you sure?"

"There is no one I rather be with than you, watching the last light go out," said Diane.

"Then why did you fly off so fast?" asked Owen.

"If I stayed, would you still be alive?" Diane asked, not answering Owen's question.

"I would have still got in the way of Aaron Copley's weapon, so the answer is no." Owen smiled at her. Tosh's last moments of life were listening to Owen rant. He promised himself that he wouldn't do that to Diane. He needed to be happy for her and not show her that he was terrified that the world was going to be destroyed by whomever or whatever moved the planet. Holding Diane's hand, Owen walked out to the reflected light of the 26 planets surrounding Earth. "It's surreal but beautiful."

"Like you," Diane said. "Do you still moisturise?"

"I shellac to keep my moisture in, keep my skin intact and make cleaning off the dust and dirt a simple wipe," said Owen. Natural shellac yellowed the skin, so he was presently coated in an artificial resin. "I also moisten my mouth and eyes as often as necessary."

Diane put an arm around him. "I think you're beautiful."

A nurse's aide came out. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Amelia Earhart?" asked Diane.

"No one has claimed to be her, but we have a number of women that are unconscious or not coherent enough to give their names, so don't give up hope," said the nurse's aide.

"Well, if you find her, I would love to compare stories with her," said Diane.

"Dr. Harper, you used to be part of Torchwood. They deal with stuff like this," said the nurse's aide.

"I'm no longer part of Torchwood and this is a bit out of their league," explained Owen.

"Still the director wants to talk to you," said the aide.

Owen gave Diane a kiss on the cheek. "You can enjoy the planets' glow. I'm needed inside."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Still don't own Torchwood and Doctor Who. BBC does.

xxxx

Owen followed the aide to the director's office. After her hellos, she explained. "We don't have a boat and the phone lines are busy. We can only feed 73 new residents for so long. I would like you to get us a boat and supplies. Food and water."

"How would you like me to do that?" asked Owen.

"I have a credit card," said the director. "Use it."

"No boat," said Owen.

"A dead man can't drown," said the director. "Walk, if you can't swim."

"Do you have nose plugs? I can't cough up the water in my lungs, and if I look like something a copper dragged out of the lake, people will run away in horror and no one will give me any rations."

"There may be nose plugs or a scuba mask in the boathouse. You've been an asset to our community. I rather not have you swell like a sponge."

"Thanks." At the boathouse, Owen found a scuba mask to cover his nose and eyes to prevent water from entering his body. While doing making some repairs on a door a resident ripped off the hinges, Owen found a can of clear shellac. He coated his skin with a thin layer of the polymer to keep his skin from flaking off then he had one of the nurse's aides shellac the areas he couldn't reach, so he was waterproof. There was a pair of rubber gloves by the boat-cleaning chemicals. A rubber glove over his damaged hand would prevent water from entering his open sore if the polymer failed. A bit of rubber over his bullet hole would keep water from entering that hole. The only problem was the medical tape used to bandage his chest could rip the skin when removed. However, a little tearing was better than filling up with water like a sponge.

Since Owen found a wet suit, he could keep the wound on his chest relatively dry without tape since he didn't have the time to let a new layer of shellac dry. He packed the credit card and his shoes and socks in a water-tight bag. He would need the shoes and socks once he got to dry land since his wet feet could tear easy. He then put a towel in the water-tight bag to pat dry his feet totally dry before he put on socks. He wanted to keep the functionality of his body and his looks for long as possible. Diane had called him beautiful.

Since this time his mouth wasn't open and his nose was covered, Owen didn't feel water entering his lungs, so he didn't have the sensation of drowning. Without the air in his lungs and being a bit low on body fat, he didn't float to the top, but he didn't sink all the way to the bottom, allowing him to swim underwater to the shore.

After removing his rubber glove and scuba mask, Owen dried his feet. No water damage, the shellac hadn't totally peeled off, yet. After he dried his feet, he put on his socks and shoes. He walked to the marina to see a man sitting on a folding chair near his boat.

"I need to rent your boat to go to Flat Holm. Some weird astronomical phenomenon has caused a bunch of people to appear there. We need food and water." Owen explained since, with the Earth being surrounded by planets, no one would argue about weird astronomical phenomena occurring.

"And by the look of you, you swim all the way here," said the man.

"Yes, I did," said Owen. "You want to make something of it?"

"Can you pay?"

"Yes, but if you don't give me a fair price, I'll take my business elsewhere."

"Will you be getting your own supplies?" asked the man.

"I can manage." Owen walked away. He must have looked like a drowned puppy but without the mask and wet suit he would have faired a lot worse. A bit of sun and he would be right as rain. Then again, they were surrounded by a bunch of planets with no sun in sight. Nothing would be right again. Owen bought the food and bottled water and had it loaded onto the boat. The ride back was much more relaxing than the swim over.

After the food was securely put away, Owen put on some dry clothes, still warm from the dryer.

Diane hugged him. "I should never have left."

"We can't change what happened. Time travel doesn't work that way," said Owen. "You like sex and I can't."

"We can dance," said Diane.

"I get to watch you shag other people. Where does that fucking leave me? Don't answer that," said Owen. "I'm going to try to call Ianto, again. Maybe, the phone lines are no longer jammed."

"We're being attacked by giant pepper pots," said Diane. "You missed the news while you were out collecting supplies."

"Pepper pots, you must be joking."

"Watch the news yourself," Diane said, "They're landing in all the major cities. They don't consider Cardiff a major city. Lucky for us."

Sitting on a sofa beside Diane, Owen used his mobile phone to call Ianto. Finally, Ianto picked up. "Jones, Ianto Jones."

"Tea-boy, do you always answer your phone like that?"

"I knew it was you," said Ianto.

"Diane is here. I'm sitting next to her, waiting for the world to end."

"Gwen and I are trapped in the hub. Jack went to find the Doctor."

"Is Rhys OK?"

"Gwen told him to stay indoors. Diane is there?"

"A hour or so before the Earth moved, the rift dropped 73 people onto Holm Flat like the universe needed to self-correct and didn't have much time. I just got back from a delivery run. Diane should be joining the others in the mess, but she's sitting by me."

"I'm not hungry," said Diane. "Tell Ianto hello. And I wish Captain Harkness luck."

"Diane says hello and wishes Jack luck," repeated Owen. "She's planning to leave me to have an lesbian affair with Amelia Earheart."

"Did Miss Earheart come through the rift?" asked Ianto.

"They hadn't IDed everyone when I left for supplies," said Owen. "Is Miss Earheart here?"

Diane nodded.

"She is," Owen told Ianto then he covered the mobile phone with his hand. "Diane, I get to watch."

"She's a bit old for me," said Diane. "And she wasn't the most coherent. They later realised she was sane - only speaking an alien tongue that no one knew - that's why it took them so long to identify her. She's been surrounded by aliens for so long it may take her a while to adjust to being around human beings again."

Owen said into the phone, "Ianto, I'm sorry to inform you, but she's damaged like Jonah."

"Maybe, she'll come around. You liked watching Gwen get some girl-on-girl action in the holding cells."

"That was Jack."

"Jack wasn't the one doing Gwen in the ventilation shaft a week or so later," teased Ianto.

"You knew about that."

"I know everything," said Ianto. "And Jack still thinks you disintegrated the day Tosh died."

"I can't go back to Torchwood. We all lost those two days together. If I go back, I could be forced to keep secrets like Data, and you are much better at keeping secrets," Since Owen could no longer metabolize medicine, he couldn't be retconned. He recalled the_ Star Trek: The Next Generation_ episode _Clues_ where everyone but Data loses a day's worth of memories and didn't want to be placed in that position.

"I am."

Owen could almost hear Ianto's smugness over the phone. Diane kissed Owen's cheek while he continued to talk to Ianto. She then left to get some food. Seeing bullets and a Dalek frozen in time blocking the door must have made Ianto talkative because Owen was still on the phone when Diane came back with coffee.

"Thanks but I can't drink." Owen said before hanging up the phone, "Tea-boy, bore Gwen or go back to watching the news."

Diane put the coffee mug on the table. "You really can't eat or drink."

"I stayed under water the whole time I swam to shore," said Owen. "I can't drown nor do I get tired."

"I need to watch a zombie film," said Diane.

"You don't." Owen looked at the coffee mug on the table. "Film zombies kill people and I'm a nice zombie."

"I'll drink the coffee then," said Diane.

Owen put an arm around her. "Please, do."

"I'm going to visit with Miss Earheart." Diane kissed his cheek. "This is too surreal."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who. BBC does.

xxxx

Finally, Ianto phoned to say that the Dalek blocking the doorway had vanished and he and Gwen were no longer trapped. Soon after that phone call, the building started shaking, again. Since Diane was still with her hero, Owen curled into foetal position far away from falling debris to wait it out.

While the building was still shaking, Diane had started hugging him, protecting him with her body. Owen smiled. He was more than a roll in the hay to her. She left the safety of a resident's room to find him. Owen imagined her wandering the halls of the shaking underground bunker to find him. That wasn't something someone would do for just anyone.

xxxx

After the aftershocks were over, Owen let Diane introduce him to her hero - a grey-haired, not particularly attractive woman. She had spent many years as the single Earthling surrounded by aliens and being around humans again was a bit of a shock. Owen guessed her physical age to be in the late fifties or early sixties.

"Do you work here, young man?" she asked.

"I'm a resident same as you." Owen once heard you can tell the patients from the staff in an mental hospital because the staff had keys. He didn't have keys; thus, he was a resident.

"Did you get taken by the rift to an alien world?" asked Miss Earheart.

"No, if I tell you what happened to me, you would think me mad," said Owen.

"I would think me mad, if I didn't experience it myself," said Miss Earheart. "I am told it is July 2008. The last Earth date I recall is July 2, 1937."

"What happened to Noonan?" asked Owen.

"He didn't trust the alien family that took us in and went off to explore. I believe he died exploring because he promised to come back for me. I became a sister and daughter to my alien family. They are, probably, wondering where I am."

"The world outside is very different than it was in 1937."

"I am used to change. I saw cinema go from silent pictures to talkies. You did not invent change." Miss Earheart sat up in bed. "I'm going to take a walk outside now that the Earth has stopped shaking."

Diane took her arm. "I'll come with you."

"Enjoy your constitutional." Owen kissed Diane's cheek. "I'll see you around."

xxxx

The few days later, Jack sneaked Owen onto the same boat that had delivered food to Flat Holm. Then the engine was going and the boat was leaving dock.

"I have to get back before Amelia and Diane hijack a plane," said Owen.

Jack put a hand on Owen's shoulder. "I'll have you back before you need to spoon-fed our less coherent residents their dinner."

"I like feeding people," said Owen. "The cook won't let me in the kitchen, but I'm allowed to pass out trays and feed the residents. It's a job."

"It would be a job, if you got paid," said Jack. "You're a resident helping out. Keep Owen away from the knives. He could hurt himself, again."

Owen didn't need to look at his bandaged hand to know he deserved that remark. "You aren't going to beg me to come back." And the cook didn't want him in the kitchen because having someone around fire that couldn't heal or feel pain didn't strike the cook as a good idea. Or so he told Owen.

"And if I did?"

"I would tell you to fuck off." Owen beamed.

"Then I won't ask."

"Have you been watching me on CCTV the whole time?" asked Owen.

"No, I have better things to do with my time," said Jack. "I didn't know you were at Flat Holm until Ianto called me. By the way, all your clothes are waiting. You just need to ask."

Owen looked down at his green scrubs. "I'm fine."

Jack yelled, "You two can come out of hiding."

Martha and a stranger, a slender black man, left the cabin. Martha was his replacement and the man must have been the new computer expert, not that anyone could replace Tosh.

Martha hugged Owen. "How's it hanging?"

"Limp as always." Owen continued to hug Martha, patting her back lightly. "And with my arms wrapped around a lady as beautiful as you, that means I must be dead."

"No news there." Martha stopped hugging Owen then kissed his cheek.

"He's dead?" asked the stranger.

"Mickey Mouse; Dr. Owen Harper, deceased," said Jack. "Owen, Mickey Mouse. Mickey once fired a missile at 10 Downing Street, so no computer is safe from his hacking skills. He also lived on a parallel Earth, making him Torchwood material."

"Mr. Mouse, it's a pleasure to meet you." Owen shook his hand. "I'm still available if you need someone to get past heat sensors."

Mickey looked at his hand in Owen's. "That's cool." Then Mickey let Owen's hand go.

"I make the grim reaper jokes," said Owen.

"Owen battled the grim reaper and won," said Martha.

Mickey said, "Your skin is smooth."

"Shellac. I had Diane help me reapply it after my swim."

"You painted yourself?" asked Jack.

"Clear no gloss - I don't want to look shiny. Doctors operate wearing gloves, so I don't see the problem. I also moisten my mouth and eyes. I'm very diligent with my self-care." Owen looked out over the beautiful blue water. "The sun is in the sky, so the Doctor won."

"Donna won," said Martha. "But let the Doctor believe he saved the day."

"Otherwise, we will never hear the end of it," said Mickey.

"Did you hear something?" asked Jack.

"The mouse squealed," said Owen.

"Shut up, dead guy," said Mickey.

Jack said, "Martha, I need you and Mickey to help get our 72 new residents placed. Ianto will help you create new identities for those who need them."

"73 people landed on the island," said Owen.

"I'm sure you would like to give Miss Diane Holmes your personal touch," said Jack.

xxxx

Owen returned to the island with a trunk containing clothing and a few personal belongings. The trunk sat on the floor of the laundry room since Owen didn't have his own room. Owen took out the box with Diane's red dress and held it in his lap.

Diane entered the laundry.

Owen put the box back in the trunk then said, "Hello."

"I asked Captain Harkness to help me relocate," said Diane.

"I understand," said Owen.

"I like you but," Diane explained.

"I shouldn't have asked you to shellac me," said Owen.

"You didn't laugh or squirm when I painted even your delicate parts. It was like you were a ventriloquist's dummy."

"Just call me Mortimer Snerd." Owen stood up slowly.

"You know about Edgar Bergen?"

"He was in _The Muppet Movie_. Way after your time. There is a scientific term for why you've been avoiding me since you refreshed my shellac - uncanny valley. You like Charlie McCarthy and Mickey Mouse, but when a doll or an animation becomes too life-like, it is no longer cute - it unnerves us - makes us uneasy."

"What does that have to do with you?" Diane's eyes were on the door.

"You painted me like you would a doll, but I'm too alive to be a doll. Thus, you no longer want to be in the room with me and are staring at the door, looking for an opportunity to leave. I value our friendship and hope you can look pass your unease."

"You danced to a Tony Bennett song with me. You bought me that dress. I want us to be friends."

Owen put his hand on her shoulder. "I want that, too. You'll find another married man to have meaningless sex with. Plenty of meaningless sex in the 21th century. A good friendship is hard to find any century."

Diane kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Owen."

xxxx

Author's Note: Dependant on my muse, I may continue the story. Reviews, favouring and following the story also helps.


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